


Have a Little Faith in Me

by katnisskirk



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Bartender Stiles Stilinski, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Musician Derek, Singer Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Secret Santa 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 14:27:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3899671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katnisskirk/pseuds/katnisskirk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles hasn't seen Derek in 2 years. Now he's back in town and Laura has engineered a little reunion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Have a Little Faith in Me

**Author's Note:**

> Look at me, posting all this stuff!! I don't even know how I never posted this one, since it was for last year's Sterek Secret Santa on Tumblr. I guess I just forgot about? (Cool, self. Good job.)
> 
> But here it is. 
> 
> Be warned, it's sort of a downer for a while. Mostly. I don't know.

Stiles leaned against the counter behind him, getting as much of a break as he could without actually going on break. It was far too busy for him to leave the bar, but he needed a few seconds to himself. Erica and Cora had it covered pretty well anyway. 

Honestly, they were so much better at dealing with people than he was, it was a wonder Laura even kept him around these days. Hell, even Isaac’s patience lasted a little longer than Stiles’ did. He’d just...been here for far too many years. He was bored. That was all. 

On top of that, tonight’s crowd was the kind of chatty that Stiles hated and he’d been hit on by drunk women just a few too many times for his liking. Not to mention the guy that just about jumped across the bar in some drunken attempt to start a fight. Actually, his motivations were still a little unclear. 

Sighing, Stiles gazed around the room, simultaneously feeling disgusted by the drunkenness of the crowd and wishing he was out there instead of behind the bar. He could use a night off and a drink. Maybe in a few months he’d have some money saved up and he could quit and just...leave. There wasn’t anything left here for him anyway. 

Scott was off in Europe with Allison. Last time they talked, maybe about a week ago, they were in France staying with some of Allison’s relatives and the next stop was Italy. 

His dad was happily retired and dating Melissa, which was still a little weird, but whatever. Stiles just wanted them both to be happy and it seemed like they were. Regardless, they were busy people and honestly, Stiles was pretty sure he stressed his father out more than anything. Until he got his shit together and got a real job in a different city, there wasn’t much he could do about how awful his life was. 

It wasn’t like Derek was coming back so—

“Stiles!”

His eyes snapped up to see Laura sticking her head out from the back room, her eyebrows raised in that way that told him just how much of an idiot she thought he was. Of course, it had nothing to do with Stiles’ actual level of intelligence and everything to do with the bottle now smashed at his feet. 

“Shit, sorry, Laura.” He motioned Isaac over from where he was making rounds at the tables, collecting drink orders. 

“Did you need something?” he asked Laura, just as Isaac slid around the bar and scowled at him. This was not the first time he’d had to clean up after Stiles, but it was probably one of the least scarring. Isaac put up with way too much of his bullshit, he really did.

Laura smacked him upside the head, pulling his attention back to her. “Weren’t you going to sing for us tonight?”

“Uhh,” was all he managed before Laura physically dragged him away from the main bar and into the doorway of the back room where they could actually hear each other speak. 

“You remember that surprise I mentioned, like a week ago?” 

Her smile was absolutely poisonous. Stiles sighed, annoyed that she was being so dark and mysterious. That meant something bad. Something very, very bad. 

“Sure. Yeah. You said I’m gonna love it, which means I’ll hate it, which means you’ll love it even more.”

“Exactly!” 

Laura beamed, but didn’t say another word, just tightened her grip on his bicep and yanked him forward. Before he knew it, they were standing by the little stage on the dance floor and Laura was climbing up onto it, leaving Stiles alone at the edge of a crowd of people.

“Hey, guys! I know we’re a little late to start tonight, but we’ve got a special guest who just arrived a few minutes ago. It’s been a couple years, but I’m sure some of you remember my brother Derek?” 

The woman next to Stiles screamed so loud he missed the next words out of Laura’s mouth, but it didn’t matter. Derek brushed by him and stepped onto the stage, seemingly unaware of Stiles’ presence. 

Stiles, on the other hand? He couldn’t tear his eyes away, his stomach churning with some nasty mixture of bile and butterflies. Butterflies with razor blades for wings. 

Oh, fuck. Fuck.

Stiles tried to run away, but the crowd was tightly packed behind him, what with this being the event everyone was here for. Had Laura advertised this? Showed how much Stiles actually paid attention to anything these days. 

Derek cleared his throat and kind of smiled, but not really. And Stiles felt so sick to his stomach that he could barely breath, but there wasn’t a way out. 

Laura sat down next to Derek, her eyes briefly locking onto Stiles’, which he was sure were wide with the panic currently blooming in his chest. Why didn’t she just tell him? Did Derek even know what she had planned? 

“So it’s been a while,” was all Derek said before he sat down next to Laura and started playing his first song. 

Stiles didn’t know the song and was surprised that Derek did, it being much lighter than his usual covers. He hung on every word, his eyes glued to Derek even when Laura started to sing. 

Two years without a fucking word, and all of a sudden, poof, he was back in Beacon Hills? Just like that? 

Stiles found himself cycling between anger and pain, both emotions making his heart beat just a little too fast in his chest. 

The sound suddenly stopped, only to be replaced by cheering and that stupid woman screaming at the top of her lungs. 

Derek noticed her this time, and his gaze found Stiles, quite by accident if the sudden dilation of his pupils was anything to go by. Stiles took a shaky breath, the weight of Derek’s attention like a blanket made of lead threatening to drop him to his knees. 

He only looked away for a split second when Laura started to speak. 

“That’s all for me, but we have Stiles here. You guys remember Stiles?” 

If there was cheering, Stiles didn’t hear it. He was climbing onto the stage and settling into the space next to Derek before he even realized he was moving. 

Derek looked at him, and Stiles allowed himself just once quick glance, just to see if...what? If Derek looked like he was just as shaken up as Stiles was?

Well, what he saw was the same look he’d been wearing for the last two years. Something between sorrow and longing, maybe with a touch more regret than Stiles was feeling. Honestly, he was still too pissed off at Derek to feel much else most of the time.

“Did you know?” Stiles questioned, voice low. He tried not to sound upset, but yeah, masking his emotions wasn’t really a skill of his. 

“No. I thought—” Derek broke off, seeming to realize where they were for the first time since he’d looked at Stiles. “The usual set okay?”

“Yeah, of course.”

They played through a handful of songs, some that Derek had written years and years ago, other they’d written together, and the usual array of covers. 

Stiles pretended not to hear the emotion in Derek’s voice and denied the emotion in his own just as steadfastly. Now was not the time. (To be precise, the time was never, if Stiles had any say in how things went.)

After about 5 songs, they took a short break. One of the perks of being so close to Laura was not having to worry about playing for any set length of time. Except tonight, it meant Stiles had to face Derek and have a conversation with him and pretend he wasn’t feeling too many emotions to even think. 

“Stiles, can I ask you something?” Derek was stiff beside him, his gaze not straying from the floor. 

“You just did.”

“Something else.”

“I can’t stop you.”

Derek huffed, fondness flashing across his features before it was replaced with that sad look, the one Stiles knew was mirrored on his own face. “Will you come to dinner with me? Just to talk.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Stiles shook his head. “No.”

“Oh.” Derek’s face went completely blank, and Stiles maybe hated himself just a little bit. “That’s okay. Forget I even asked.” 

“Derek, it’s not—”

“It’s been 10 minutes. We really need to get through this set.”

And with that, Derek turned away and started right in on the next song, which was a solo song Derek had written shortly before he left. 

Stiles stared at him, searching his face for the hidden meaning behind his words. Maybe in choosing this particular song there was something Derek was trying to make him understand about why he left. Or maybe he just felt like playing it and Stiles was over-thinking his life. Either way, it was Derek and he was here, so Stiles was hard pressed to keep a smile off his face. 

After another few songs, Stiles finished the set with one he’d been listening to on repeat for a few weeks straight, I’ll Run by The Cab. It made him think of Derek and he’d allowed himself that little concession, just for a few weeks. 

He liked to pretend that he was well on his way to getting over Derek, but literally everyone knew that was a joke. 

Hardly a minute passed between the end of their show and Stiles pulling Derek’s chair closer so they could talk. Still packing up, Derek didn’t seem to notice until Stiles spoke.

“You need to tell me what the fuck is going on right now, Der. I can’t take this.”

Sighing, Derek dropped into the chair near Stiles. When he finally spoke, his voice was almost too soft to hear over the noise of the bar. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. When I left, it was because I had to. For myself. I love you. I hope you know that.”

“I thought you did, but I’m not so sure now.”

“Stiles.” Derek closed his eyes and the sad expression that overtook his face made Stiles sigh. There was something about Derek’s demeanor that seemed so genuine that Stiles couldn’t seriously question his sincerity; he was just doing it to be a dick at this point.

“Fine. I know. But I still won’t act like nothing ever happened!”

“And you shouldn’t. I’m not asking to start over,” Derek insisted, his hands clenched tightly together in his lap and his eyes straying to his shoes. “We can’t pretend I wasn’t an asshole. It happened and I’m not asking you to forget it.”

Stiles let out the breath he’d been holding in for what seemed like hours as he waited for Derek to finish. He didn’t want to interrupt and cause Derek to lose his nerve. 

“What exactly are you asking me to do?”

“Can we just try again?” Derek mumbled, still gazing resolutely at the ground in front him as if seeing another world there, maybe one where the last two years had never happened and the two of them were happy together. “Please, Stiles, will you just consider it?”

“Of course I will. Derek, I never wanted—you know how I felt—how I feel about you. I just need time to process this.”

When he reached across the short space between to take Stiles’ hand in his own, Derek’s eyes held a note of uncertainty. Stiles intertwined their fingers and his stomach flipped. All he wanted to do was reassure Derek that everything would be okay. But maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe they’d never completely repair their relationship. 

But Stiles had faith that things would work out.

And by the looks of it, Derek did, too.


End file.
